The NXR Podcast - May 28, 2023


SUNDAY SERMON - Baptists, Presbyterians, Covenant Theology, & Christian Nationalism

Topics
circumcision in battle circumcision and covenant circumcision and Passover faithful pastors
Hosted by
Joel Webbon Harrison Smith Antonio Griffith Dale Partridge Wewsley Todd Calvin Robinson
Mentioned
Adam Matthew Henry Paul Abraham Canaan Baptists America Christian Jesus Christ Joe Biden Levitical Jacob Seek
BONUS EPISODE - Why Women Should Not & Cannot Preach DAILY TRUTH - Total Depravity Vs. Utter Depravity

Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 14 minutes

Words per minute

133.24

Word count

9,901

Sentence count

497

Harmful content

Toxicity

21

sentences flagged

Hate speech

145

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Joshua 5:1-12 The Lord circumcised the sons of Israel for the second time, but not all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Sons of Israel a second time.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00 All right, listen, guys, I get it.
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00:00:38 Thank you so much.
00:00:39 God bless.
00:00:40 Amen.
00:00:41 This morning, we continue with our sermon series
00:00:44 through the book of Joshua.
00:00:45 Our text for today is Joshua chapter five,
00:00:48 verses one through 12.
00:00:49 Again, that's Joshua chapter five, verses one through 12.
00:00:53 Would you join me now in standing
00:00:55 for the reading of God's word?
00:00:56 I'll read our text.
00:00:58 In its entirety, when I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord,
00:01:02 at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying, thanks be to God.
00:01:07 One final time, our text for today is Joshua chapter 5, verses 1 through 12.
00:01:12 The Bible says this,
00:01:15 As soon as all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to the west,
00:01:20 and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea,
00:01:24 heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they
00:01:29 had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the 0.59
00:01:37 people of Israel. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives and circumcise the sons 0.99
00:01:44 of Israel a second time. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at
00:01:52 Gibeath-Heraloth. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the males of the people 0.91
00:02:00 who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had
00:02:07 come out of Egypt. Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who 0.96
00:02:15 were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised.
00:02:22 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war, who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord.
00:02:35 The Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
00:02:46 so it was their children whom he raised up in their place that Joshua circumcised for they
00:02:53 were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way when the circumcising
00:03:00 of the whole nation was finished they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed 0.88
00:03:06 and the Lord said to Joshua today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you and so the
00:03:14 name of that place is Gilgal to this day. While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal,
00:03:21 they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho.
00:03:28 And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land,
00:03:34 unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of
00:03:41 the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of 0.65
00:03:47 the land of Canaan that year. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go
00:03:55 ahead and dive in. I've separated or bifurcated our text today into two primary portions, verses
00:04:02 one through nine, which deals with Israel being circumcised a second time, a second time in the
00:04:11 symbolic sense, not the literal sense. The individuals who are being circumcised were
00:04:17 actually not circumcised prior to this moment. And so they're being circumcised initially for
00:04:24 the first time. But this is looking at Israel in a covenantal corporate sense, a second circumcision
00:04:31 of Israel. That's verses 1 through 9 of our text, dealing with circumcision. But then, looking at
00:04:38 verses 10 through 12 of our text, we have the Passover. And between these two practices, 0.56
00:04:46 under the Old Covenant, with the nation-state of Israel, both circumcision and the Passover
00:04:51 function as covenantal signs for God's covenantal people. And so what we have is a new generation 0.92
00:04:59 of Israelites, now having crossed the Jordan River, now entering into the promised land of Canaan,
00:05:07 a good land that flows with milk and honey, the first thing that takes place is a covenant
00:05:13 renewal ceremony. And we see Israel being circumcised, and we see them observing the
00:05:20 Passover. It is a renewing of the covenant between Yahweh and his people, as they are now beginning
00:05:28 a new chapter in fulfillment of all God's promises made first to Abraham and also through
00:05:35 his servant Moses, that Israel would become a great people and that God would provide 0.99
00:05:41 for them a good land and that they would inhabit the land and that God would drive out all
00:05:48 their enemies.
00:05:49 A covenantal renewal ceremony, circumcision and the Passover are the first things that 0.67
00:05:56 take place in the new land of Canaan given to Israel. Let's begin with verses one through nine
00:06:02 dealing with circumcision. Simply that it might be fresh in our minds, I want us to read once more
00:06:10 verses one and two of our text, which says, as soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were
00:06:17 beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that
00:06:24 the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed
00:06:30 over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of 0.99
00:06:37 Israel. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel 0.99
00:06:45 a second time. In your notes, I've written the following. Here is the fright which the Canaanites
00:06:52 were put into by their miraculously passing over Jordan. The news of Israel miraculously crossing 0.98
00:06:59 the Jordan, and likely also the news of Israel's miraculous victory over Jericho, was quickly
00:07:06 spread as an alarm to all the kings and kingdoms of Canaan. God impressed these fears upon the
00:07:14 Canaanites in fulfillment of his promises. Where do we find those promises? In multiple instances,
00:07:22 but for the sake of time, I'll provide two. Exodus chapter 23 verse 27 says this,
00:07:29 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you
00:07:36 shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. A second example of this
00:07:44 promise being provided by God to the people of Israel is Psalm chapter 53 verse 5.
00:07:52 There they are in great terror where there is no terror for God scatters the bones of him
00:07:59 who encamps against you. You put them to shame for God has rejected them. God promised his people
00:08:08 Israel even before they entered into the land of Canaan that he would strike terror into the hearts
00:08:16 of all those who stood against Israel, 0.51
00:08:19 that their hearts would indeed melt like wax,
00:08:23 that there would be no spirit left in them,
00:08:27 that they would be stricken by terror.
00:08:30 And this is precisely the promise that God fulfills, 0.71
00:08:34 that when Israel crosses over the Jordan River,
00:08:37 as the waters are heaped up in a pile miraculously
00:08:41 by the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord
00:08:44 held by the Levitical priesthood in the midst of the Jordan,
00:08:49 God's people cross over on dry land
00:08:52 and the news of this miraculous event
00:08:55 quickly spreads to all the different tribes of the Canaanites.
00:09:00 And we see in the text, the Amorites.
00:09:03 Likely with the news of their miraculous crossing of the Jordan River
00:09:08 is also the news of their miraculous victory over the city of Jericho.
00:09:14 a juggernaut within the Canaanite tribes, that the walls miraculously fell on the seventh day
00:09:22 and that God gave to his people a very great victory. And it is at this moment that God
00:09:30 commands Israel to be circumcised. In your notes, I've written this. God ordered Joshua to 0.94
00:09:38 circumcise Israel at a time when it might be done with safety, even in an enemy's country,
00:09:46 due to their hearts being melted with fear. Joshua could have easily been thought of as
00:09:52 unwise for this particular command. According to natural reason, it was foolish to undergo 0.91
00:09:59 circumcision at this time. However, when God gives a command, we must not consult with flesh 0.99
00:10:07 and blood. According to human reason, it would have made much more sense for Israel to be 0.96
00:10:14 circumcised before crossing the Jordan. For that matter, they had 38 years, 40 in total, 0.96
00:10:23 but 38 years for this new generation of Israelites to be circumcised in the wilderness 0.52
00:10:31 as they were on the way to the promised land. 0.60
00:10:35 There were ample opportunities, in other words, 0.95
00:10:38 for Israel to be circumcised 0.93
00:10:41 when they were not surrounded by a threat, 0.55
00:10:46 when they were not surrounded by their enemies. 0.78
00:10:49 To be circumcised at this time defies human reason. 0.79
00:10:54 Because of the natural healing process,
00:10:58 it made all the fighting men in Israel temporarily, albeit, but temporarily vulnerable,
00:11:06 not able to fight. For some of you, if you're familiar with your Old Testament narratives,
00:11:13 you may be familiar of a particular time when a particular people were circumcised
00:11:20 and they were defeated during that vulnerable moment of healing. 0.71
00:11:25 The sons of Jacob tricked a neighboring tribe
00:11:31 into joining into covenant with Israel, this family, 0.93
00:11:37 by undergoing circumcision.
00:11:39 And then to avenge their sister, 0.88
00:11:42 they used that moment after this neighboring tribe 0.99
00:11:46 had just been circumcised to go and slaughter them 0.99
00:11:50 before they were able to be healed 0.96
00:11:52 and therefore before they were able to fight successfully.
00:11:58 So we have a biblical example
00:12:00 where circumcision clearly is not a practical advantage in battle.
00:12:08 At least not for the first few days.
00:12:11 It takes a little bit of time.
00:12:14 So again, in a practical sense,
00:12:16 you would think, why would you enter into enemy territory and then make yourselves vulnerable?
00:12:25 Why not deal with that before? Or why not deal with that after? After you've defeated not only
00:12:31 Jericho, but all the other surrounding enemy camps? Or why not deal with it for 38 years?
00:12:39 It's not as though you didn't have time. There were 38 years, the last 38 years of the 40,
00:12:46 while wandering in the wilderness, that circumcision was neglected.
00:12:52 Now on that point, it's a difficult reality of the Old Testament narrative to reconcile.
00:13:01 Because we know that God was very particular through Abraham
00:13:07 that every Hebrew male should be circumcised on the eighth day. 0.91
00:13:13 And we know that God was also particular through Moses 0.85
00:13:16 during the time of Israel held in bondage in Egypt
00:13:21 and for the first two years as they were led out of Egypt,
00:13:26 there was also, again, this renewal covenant ceremony,
00:13:30 circumcision and Passover.
00:13:33 God was very insistent in particular that his people
00:13:37 should bear the covenant signs of their covenant God
00:13:42 and his covenant promises.
00:13:45 And then, all of a sudden, we have an ellipsis.
00:13:49 We have this parenthetical pause of 38 years,
00:13:54 just about an entire generation, 0.86
00:13:58 according to Jewish measurements of time,
00:14:01 an entire generation where the commandment
00:14:04 of the Hebrew males to be circumcised on the eighth day
00:14:08 is utterly neglected.
00:14:10 do. And the biblical text does not tell us anywhere in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the
00:14:17 Old Testament, or in Joshua, it does not tell us an explicit command coming from God that they
00:14:25 should neglect circumcision. And yet I do believe that by way of necessary inference, this is the
00:14:33 proper interpretive conclusion that the people of God should come to. We should assume that this was
00:14:40 not merely radical neglect of obedience to God's commands, but although the command is not explicitly
00:14:48 stated in the biblical text, we should assume that there was a command given through Moses to the
00:14:55 people of Israel during their 40-year wandering that they were not only neglecting, but that they
00:15:03 were actually forbidden by God through divine command to apply the covenant sign of circumcision
00:15:11 to their children. And if God did give this command, which I believe he did, we know that
00:15:17 God does not issue his commands and his laws arbitrarily, but that he would do so for a
00:15:24 particular purpose. Matthew Henry, I think, is helpful at this point. He too holds to the
00:15:31 position that Israel did not simply neglect obedience to circumcise their children during
00:15:38 this 38 years of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, but rather that they were
00:15:44 prohibited and divinely explicitly forbidden from doing so by a command through Moses from the Lord
00:15:52 himself. Matthew Henry says it like this, had not God enjoined it to Abraham under a very severe
00:16:04 penalty that every man child of his seed should be circumcised on the eighth day in accordance
00:16:11 with Genesis 17, nine through 14. And yet under the government of Moses himself to have all their
00:16:20 children that were born for 38 years together left uncircumcised is unaccountable. So great
00:16:28 an omission could not be a general oversight, but only by divine direction. Therefore, it seems to
00:16:37 have been a continued token of God's displeasure against them for their unbelief and murmuring.
00:16:45 Circumcision was originally a seal of the promise of the land of Canaan.
00:16:52 It was in the believing hope of that good land that the patriarchs circumcised their children.
00:16:59 But when God had sworn in his wrath concerning the men who came out of Egypt
00:17:04 that they should be consumed in the wilderness and never enter Canaan, 0.60
00:17:09 nor come within sight of it as a further ratification of that sentence and to be a
00:17:16 constant memorial of it to them, all that fell under that sentence and were to fall by it were
00:17:25 forbidden to circumcise their children, by which they were plainly told that whatever others might,
00:17:32 They should never have the benefit of that promise of which circumcision was the seal.
00:17:40 What we find in these verses, particularly verses 4 and 5 and 6,
00:17:48 is that they did not circumcise their Hebrew male sons
00:17:53 because they were not permitted to enter into the land of Canaan.
00:17:57 They being the original generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt.
00:18:04 Let me read those verses once more so that they're fresh in our minds.
00:18:08 This is Joshua 5, verses 4, 5, and 6.
00:18:12 The Bible says this, 0.50
00:18:15 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. 0.99
00:18:18 All the males of the people who came out of Egypt, 0.88
00:18:22 all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 0.99
00:18:29 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, that first generation,
00:18:34 yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt
00:18:40 had not been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness until
00:18:47 all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey.
00:18:54 This is key. They did not obey the voice of the Lord. The Lord swore to them that he would not 0.77
00:19:01 let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with
00:19:09 milk and honey. So why was this new second generation of Israel that was born along the way 0.99
00:19:18 during this 40 year period of wandering in the wilderness? Why were they not circumcised? Because 0.98
00:19:24 of God's displeasure towards them? Ironically, what I want you to catch is this. It was actually
00:19:31 because of God's displeasure with their parents.
00:19:35 It was God's just wrath 0.99
00:19:38 towards the first generation of Israel, 0.54
00:19:41 those who had been captives and slaves in Egypt,
00:19:44 who had come out of Egypt. 0.99
00:19:46 It was God's displeasure with them, 1.00
00:19:49 the parents' generation, 1.00
00:19:51 that caused him to forbid them
00:19:53 from applying the sign and seal of circumcision
00:19:56 to their children. 0.97
00:19:58 So it was not this second generation
00:20:01 that would include individuals like Joshua and Caleb
00:20:04 who were permitted to enter into the land.
00:20:08 It was not God's displeasure with them,
00:20:10 but rather, again, God's displeasure with their parents.
00:20:15 The absence of the sign on the children
00:20:18 was an indictment of judgment on the parents.
00:20:22 I'll say that again.
00:20:24 The absence of this covenantal sign of circumcision
00:20:27 on the children who are now entering into the land of Canaan. The promised land was not an
00:20:35 indictment of them, but rather an indictment of God's judgment on the parents. This covenantal
00:20:43 sign directly correlates with the promised land. That's what verses four, five, and six of our text
00:20:51 say, that's also what Matthew Henry, a Puritan, says, that the sign of circumcision was likened to
00:20:58 the promise of the land of Canaan. And because this first generation of Israelites that were led
00:21:05 out of captive from Egypt, because they hardened their hearts, because they persisted in grumbling,
00:21:13 complaining, and unbelief, because God gave them an opportunity to go and seize the land,
00:21:20 but rather they chose to distrust in the Lord,
00:21:24 to distrust his promises and to cower in fear.
00:21:27 For all those reasons, God swore in his wrath
00:21:31 that Israel would still indeed inherit the good land, 1.00
00:21:35 but that this particular generation of Israelites 1.00
00:21:37 would die off in the wilderness,
00:21:39 that they would not enter the land,
00:21:41 nor would they even come within sight of it.
00:21:45 And as a further ratification of God's judgment, 0.81
00:21:49 that they would not come into the land nor see the land 0.90
00:21:53 as a confirmation of God's judgment. 1.00
00:21:57 He would not allow this generation
00:21:59 that was rebellious towards him 0.97
00:22:02 to apply the covenant sign
00:22:04 that was correlated to entering the land,
00:22:08 namely the sign of circumcision to their own children.
00:22:11 The children were eventually circumcised.
00:22:14 That's precisely what happens in our text today.
00:22:17 In Joshua chapter 5, the moment after they cross over the Jordan River,
00:22:23 the moment that they set foot into the promised land,
00:22:26 the very moment that God's promise of giving to Israel a good land
00:22:31 flowing with milk and honey is fulfilled. 0.81
00:22:34 The moment the promise is fulfilled, these children are now circumcised.
00:22:39 They're circumcised later.
00:22:42 It's not the eighth day since birth.
00:22:44 They're circumcised in their 20s, 30s, 40s.
00:22:49 They're circumcised later, but they are eventually given the covenant sign.
00:22:54 And more importantly, even than that,
00:22:56 they are given the particular promise that that sign pointed towards, namely the land.
00:23:03 So it's not this generation of Israelites that are penalized.
00:23:08 Them not being able to bear that sign of the covenant
00:23:11 during the 38 years of wandering in the wilderness
00:23:15 was not an indictment to the children.
00:23:18 It was an indictment,
00:23:19 a confirmation of God's judgment upon the parents. 1.00
00:23:24 And I think that that'll preach.
00:23:28 I think that there are certain applications
00:23:32 that we can draw from this for any generation,
00:23:35 any culture, any nation, and any time period.
00:23:39 that there are times that God in his just wrath
00:23:46 will withhold certain covenant blessings
00:23:50 from a generation of children,
00:23:52 not because those children themselves
00:23:55 have rebelled against God,
00:23:58 but as a sign, as a ratification,
00:24:02 as a confirmation to their parents
00:24:05 that they have failed the Lord,
00:24:07 that they have rebelled against the Lord
00:24:10 and that the Lord is indeed displeased with them.
00:24:16 And I think that at least at some level,
00:24:19 that's part of what we're experiencing
00:24:21 in Western civilization today.
00:24:25 Now, for a whole biblical theology
00:24:28 in assessing the current situation,
00:24:32 the reality is that God holds each individual person
00:24:36 morally responsible for their sin.
00:24:40 So this is not to say that anyone is innocent
00:24:42 or that anyone is immune from moral culpability.
00:24:49 Younger generations who have grown up
00:24:53 and are now 20 years old, 30 years old, 40 years old,
00:24:58 by this point, certainly they themselves
00:25:01 have made many choices
00:25:04 either to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ or to rebel against him.
00:25:10 And they will be held accountable for their own choices.
00:25:14 They will receive rewards for obedience and just sanctions and judgments,
00:25:20 not only in this life, but certainly the life to come
00:25:24 for whatever rebellion they've participated in.
00:25:28 But to pretend that each individual person is making decisions either in obedience to God or rebellion against him in an isolated vacuum is a very naive perception of the world.
00:25:45 We don't do theology in a vacuum.
00:25:48 We don't do obedience or rebellion, for that matter, in a vacuum.
00:25:54 In other words, none of us live the Christian life in a neutral, unaffected, unbiased plane.
00:26:07 We are all at some degree products of time and place, generations that came before us
00:26:15 and the decisions that they have made.
00:26:17 And yet at the same time, no one in the ultimate sense is a victim.
00:26:24 that two things can be simultaneously true.
00:26:29 It is true that children are deeply affected by their parents.
00:26:35 And it is also true that children are also accountable under God,
00:26:42 that no one can stand before Christ on that final day and say,
00:26:47 well, I didn't have a good mom and dad, so I can't be thrown into hell.
00:26:53 that dog won't hunt that won't work
00:26:57 but it it's not that it won't work because jesus will look at the individual and say
00:27:04 that's not true your parents decisions had no effect on you whatsoever
00:27:11 therefore you're accountable that will not be his rhetoric of course the parents decisions
00:27:18 have a massive effect on their children,
00:27:22 for good or for evil.
00:27:25 So it is not that the children are responsible
00:27:27 because the parents have no shaping
00:27:31 and guiding influence over their lives.
00:27:34 And it is not also that the parents
00:27:36 have shaping and guiding influence,
00:27:39 and therefore the children are not responsible.
00:27:43 It's both and, not either or.
00:27:46 parents are responsible for their children and yet at the same time when it comes to the new
00:27:53 covenant and when it comes to saving faith in the lord jesus christ when it comes to eternal life
00:28:02 and justification god deals with his people on an individual basis under the new covenant
00:28:14 God deals with individuals.
00:28:16 A part of the problem in the evangelical church today, 0.99
00:28:19 and I might add particularly among Baptists,
00:28:23 is that we are so individualistic, atomistic,
00:28:28 we have no theological framework for corporate truths,
00:28:35 for corporate realities.
00:28:38 We don't think in terms of covenant.
00:28:40 We don't think in terms of collections.
00:28:43 We don't think in terms of groups.
00:28:47 We don't think in terms of generations.
00:28:51 We merely think in terms of individual people and their individual choices.
00:28:58 And that's the problem.
00:29:01 Now, because I am a Baptist, I do think in terms of individuals at least in one sense.
00:29:07 And that one sense, again, is in terms of the new covenant.
00:29:12 I believe that the new covenant is a covenant of grace,
00:29:16 not just one particular administration of a larger banner of the covenant of grace,
00:29:22 but that the new covenant is synonymous with the covenant of grace.
00:29:26 It is the covenant of grace, and it is therefore the only eternally saving covenant,
00:29:32 and that that particular covenant is established with individual people.
00:29:39 Put that aside for a moment.
00:29:42 All the rest of my thinking is covenantal.
00:29:46 All the rest of my thinking, my theological thinking,
00:29:50 political thinking, cultural thinking, is corporate.
00:29:55 And I think that the problem, if I might be so bold to say,
00:29:59 with my Presbyterian brothers and sisters 0.81
00:30:02 is that they attempt to stretch the New Covenant
00:30:06 to encompass every single scenario
00:30:09 that we could possibly think of.
00:30:12 Christian nationalism, 0.92
00:30:14 let me just stretch that New Covenant. 0.98
00:30:17 A Meochrysidim, let's stretch it a little bit further. 1.00
00:30:21 Now the problem with Baptists 0.99
00:30:23 is that Baptists pretend as though 0.93
00:30:26 they won't stretch the New Covenant,
00:30:28 They're very committed to the new covenant being only what it's meant to be.
00:30:34 And I agree in that sense. 0.57
00:30:36 But I disagree with my Baptist brothers in the sense that although I think they have the proper view of the new covenant,
00:30:43 the problem is that they pretend that that's the only covenant that currently exists.
00:30:49 They think that there's a new covenant that has been established by Christ,
00:30:55 with Christ appointed by God as the federal head,
00:30:59 the representative, the head of this covenant.
00:31:03 And it's with individuals and the only access,
00:31:07 the entrance, the door into this new covenant
00:31:10 is union with Christ, which comes by the power of the spirit,
00:31:14 by grace alone, through faith alone, in him alone.
00:31:18 And to all that, I would say a hearty yes and amen.
00:31:21 But then the Baptist stops.
00:31:23 And if you talk about a nation being in covenant with God,
00:31:27 the Baptist says, uh-uh, no such thing as a Christian nation.
00:31:33 No such thing as a Christian seminary.
00:31:35 No such thing as a Christian school.
00:31:38 No such thing as Christian art or Christian science.
00:31:42 In fact, there's not even such a thing as a Christian family. 0.90
00:31:46 Not so long as you have young children, especially infants. 1.00
00:31:50 you can only be a Christian family 0.97
00:31:52 if your children are grown up 0.99
00:31:54 and each of them have made
00:31:55 a credible profession of faith.
00:31:58 Now to that I would say 1.00
00:31:59 that Baptists are stupid. 1.00
00:32:02 That is foolish. 1.00
00:32:05 Absolute insanity. 1.00
00:32:10 Baptists are foolish. 1.00
00:32:14 So I don't think that we need 1.00
00:32:16 to use the new covenant
00:32:17 and rearrange its theological parameters and definitions
00:32:22 in order to account for a Christian family
00:32:26 or a Christian school or a Christian culture
00:32:29 or a Christian nation.
00:32:32 I think that we can simply speak of other covenants.
00:32:37 And here's the one example that I would provide.
00:32:40 And I think all I need is one in order to make my case.
00:32:45 There's the covenant of works
00:32:46 and the covenant of grace.
00:32:48 The covenant of works was established by God
00:32:51 with Adam as the federal head.
00:32:54 To Adam in the garden was given not one,
00:32:58 but 11 commandments, 10 moral commandments,
00:33:02 the Decalogue written not yet on tablets of stone
00:33:05 as it was through Moses on Mount Sinai,
00:33:08 but at this point, the 10 commandments
00:33:11 written on Adam's heart.
00:33:13 In addition to the 10 moral commands
00:33:15 written on the heart of Adam and Eve, for that matter, in the garden. In addition, one positive
00:33:22 precept, that is not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is
00:33:29 the covenant of works that God established with Adam. I believe within covenant theological
00:33:36 framework that this was a probationary period of time, that this would not be the parameters
00:33:43 of the covenant with Adam and God forever,
00:33:47 indefinitely,
00:33:48 but that it was a temporary moment,
00:33:51 a probationary period,
00:33:53 and that at a certain point,
00:33:55 if Adam had succeeded
00:33:56 in not breaking the covenant
00:33:59 by breaking these commandments,
00:34:02 then eventually God would have held out to Adam 0.79
00:34:04 and by proxy Eve and all their posterity
00:34:08 the fruit not of the tree
00:34:10 of the knowledge of good and evil,
00:34:12 but rather the fruit of the tree of life.
00:34:14 And that by eating of the fruit of the tree of life,
00:34:18 not only would Adam and Eve be given forever life,
00:34:22 which they technically already had,
00:34:25 but they would be given eternal life.
00:34:27 The distinction between what I'm calling forever life
00:34:31 and eternal life is this.
00:34:33 Forever life is that you can go on living and never die.
00:34:38 Eternal life adds to forever life.
00:34:42 going on forever and never dying,
00:34:44 but it adds to it a sense of immutability.
00:34:48 Immutability, to be immutable,
00:34:51 is to be unchanging, unchangeable.
00:34:55 See, Adam was created in a state of integrity.
00:34:59 He was created without sin.
00:35:02 Adam did not have a sin nature,
00:35:03 not until he rebelled against God.
00:35:06 Now, what did God tell Adam?
00:35:07 He said, if you eat of the fruit of the tree
00:35:10 of the knowledge of good and evil
00:35:11 on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.
00:35:15 So technically, what did Adam need to do
00:35:18 to ensure that he would live forever?
00:35:20 Did he need to eat of the tree of life to live forever?
00:35:24 Or did he merely need to not eat
00:35:27 of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
00:35:31 I would argue that it's the latter.
00:35:33 If he simply did not eat of the one tree that was forbidden,
00:35:37 he would have gone on living forever.
00:35:40 But yet, in this state of integrity, with forever life,
00:35:44 simply by abstaining from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
00:35:49 one possibility would yet remain.
00:35:52 And the possibility is that at any moment, he could fall.
00:35:58 At any moment, he could stop making the right choice
00:36:01 to abstain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
00:36:05 At any moment, he could disobey, the covenant would be broken, and on that day, he would surely die.
00:36:15 Eating of the tree of life did more than merely abstaining from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
00:36:24 I'll say that again.
00:36:26 To eat of the tree of life was greater.
00:36:30 It would produce a greater reality.
00:36:33 to eat of the tree of life would be better than merely abstaining from eating of the tree of the
00:36:40 knowledge of good and evil. And so again, I, along with many other covenant theologians,
00:36:46 both on the Presbyterian, Westminster, and the 1689 Baptist side of the aisle, I hold that it
00:36:53 was a probationary period. Covenant works established with Adam as a federal head in the
00:36:59 garden not indefinitely but for a time it could have been a month could have been a week could
00:37:06 have been 10 years we don't know how long the time period was but i believe that
00:37:11 i believe that the implication from genesis 1 and 2 and 3 is that god established this covenant and
00:37:21 there was an end date and at the end not only would adam have to go on not eating of the tree
00:37:28 of the knowledge of good and evil.
00:37:29 But by the end of this period,
00:37:32 Adam would be given access to eat of the tree of life.
00:37:35 And the tree of life, it wouldn't just give him forever life,
00:37:38 but it would make the forever life he already had
00:37:41 by just not eating of the bad tree,
00:37:43 it would make that forever life secure.
00:37:46 Now, when we speak of salvation, justification for the Christian,
00:37:51 for you and I today, we hold to the security of the believer.
00:37:57 It's not just that you and I, through faith in Jesus,
00:38:00 have been granted forever life,
00:38:02 but that we have, in a present sense, eternal life.
00:38:08 And what makes the difference between forever and eternal life
00:38:13 is that for the Christian, that eternal life can never be lost.
00:38:18 And the same way that you did nothing to gain it,
00:38:23 you can do nothing to lose it.
00:38:26 I've heard it said, well, we don't do anything.
00:38:29 We don't earn by our works or our good behavior, justification, salvation.
00:38:36 And so because we don't do anything to earn eternal life,
00:38:40 we can't do anything to lose it.
00:38:42 However, we do gain eternal life, not by what we do, but what we choose.
00:38:48 And so if by choice we gain it, then by choice we could lose it.
00:38:53 to which I would respond, I have very good news.
00:38:58 Not only did you not do anything to gain salvation,
00:39:01 you also didn't choose it.
00:39:05 That's the beauty of Calvinism.
00:39:09 We love because he first loved us.
00:39:12 We did not choose God, but rather he chose us.
00:39:17 Romans chapter 3 is God's anthropology,
00:39:20 God's view of man apart from saving grace in Christ.
00:39:25 And what it says is not just that all people are bad,
00:39:28 that their throats are open graves,
00:39:31 that there is no fear of God before their eyes,
00:39:34 but Romans 3 goes further and says,
00:39:37 no one seeks for God.
00:39:41 Not just that no one obeys God or that no one fears God
00:39:45 or that no one loves God,
00:39:46 but that no one left to themselves will even seek for God.
00:39:52 The same principle is confirmed in John chapter 3,
00:39:56 the discourse between Christ and Nicodemus.
00:40:00 Jesus says to Nicodemus,
00:40:02 unless a man first be born again,
00:40:05 not only can he not enter the kingdom of heaven,
00:40:08 but he cannot even see the kingdom.
00:40:12 He cannot even see the kingdom of heaven.
00:40:16 Some at this point might object by saying,
00:40:18 what about Matthew?
00:40:20 What about what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount?
00:40:24 Ask, and it will be given.
00:40:26 Knock, the door will be opened to you.
00:40:29 Seek, and you will find. 0.86
00:40:33 Which, of course, the answer is that God is schizophrenic
00:40:36 and contradicts himself at every turn.
00:40:38 No.
00:40:38 perhaps an alternative solution
00:40:43 to reconciling Romans 3
00:40:45 that literally says no one seeks for God
00:40:47 and what Jesus says
00:40:49 in his discourse
00:40:51 in the Sermon on the Mount
00:40:53 when he explicitly
00:40:55 tells people
00:40:56 seek and you will find
00:40:59 perhaps these two things
00:41:01 can actually be reconciled
00:41:03 see there is a sense
00:41:05 in which we do seek for God
00:41:07 But we only seek after God after having first been found by God. 0.99
00:41:15 It is actually only the Christian, the one who has first been born again,
00:41:22 not by the will of man or the work of man, not by blood,
00:41:30 but the one who has been born again by grace,
00:41:33 a sovereign move and work of the Holy Spirit,
00:41:37 the one who has had his heart of stone removed
00:41:40 and a heart of flesh that is malleable and receptive to God and his promises replaced,
00:41:47 it is only that individual who has first been made a new creature in Christ Jesus,
00:41:52 only to them and them alone will they seek after God.
00:41:58 And as they seek after God, they will progressively find more and more of what they seek,
00:42:05 more and more of his goodness,
00:42:08 more and more sanctification,
00:42:12 more and more intimacy and communion
00:42:15 with the triune God by grace through faith.
00:42:22 So all of this being said,
00:42:24 back to the covenant of works established with Adam,
00:42:28 a probationary period, he failed.
00:42:31 He failed.
00:42:32 there are some that i actually would agree with in terms of when did he fail
00:42:38 there are a few theologians who say that the reason why hebrew boys under the old covenant
00:42:45 had to be circumcised on the eighth day was because adam fell on the eighth day
00:42:52 so it's not that god had a 10 year long probationary period and adam made it for
00:42:59 nine and a half years, but couldn't quite get over the finish line. But according to this view,
00:43:05 which I think is most probable, Adam was made on the sixth day, enjoyed God on the seventh,
00:43:13 and fell on the eighth. And he didn't get very far. Not very far at all. And the covenant was
00:43:21 broken. And on that day, Adam did die. He spiritually died, and that began a ticking clock in terms of his
00:43:31 physical death. In terms of his physical death. So Baptists and Presbyterians alike, all within the
00:43:40 Reformed tradition, Protestant tradition, we hold and esteem the covenant of works and the covenant
00:43:49 of grace. A different articulation of what exactly the covenant of grace entails, when
00:43:57 precisely it begins. But we all hold to these two covenants at least. Covenant of works,
00:44:07 covenant of grace. But again, the problem today is that many Christians, especially 0.99
00:44:15 Baptist, but beyond just the Baptist, many Christians pretend as though there are no 0.58
00:44:20 other covenants besides these. And that in this New Testament time, this gospel age or church age
00:44:29 where we now live, that the new covenant is the only covenant that matters. And some, at least
00:44:37 implicitly they seem to suggest that it's the only covenant that even exists so again i said
00:44:45 earlier i'll provide it now all i need is one covenant as an example outside of the new covenant
00:44:52 and the covenant of works that i've just espoused in order to break the mold and say hey they there
00:44:59 are in fact other covenants outside of these two one covenant that i would provide as an
00:45:06 example, would be marriage. Is marriage a contract or is it a covenant? I'm talking about human
00:45:16 marriage between one biological man, aka one man, shouldn't even have to say biological,
00:45:26 and one woman.
00:45:29 This is not merely an arrangement,
00:45:32 a civil arrangement,
00:45:36 a business contract,
00:45:39 but according to Scripture, it is a covenant.
00:45:43 My next question would be this,
00:45:46 that in the case of two Christians who are married,
00:45:51 in this marriage covenant,
00:45:54 should it be viewed as a Christian covenant?
00:45:59 Do you have a Christian marriage?
00:46:02 Or is it a neutral covenant?
00:46:06 Is it a neutral marriage
00:46:08 in which you simply seek to live out
00:46:12 Christian faithfulness
00:46:14 but in a non-Christian marriage? 0.76
00:46:19 I would say that those are categories
00:46:24 that seem to have to be forced in
00:46:28 through the biblical narrative.
00:46:31 They seem foreign within the realm of Scripture. 0.61
00:46:36 If you are a Christian and you're married, 0.96
00:46:40 you have a Christian marriage.
00:46:42 In fact, I'll see your point and raise you one further.
00:46:47 However, according to the Apostle Paul, you don't even need two Christians in the marriage to make it a Christian marriage. 0.98
00:46:56 That just one will suffice. 0.79
00:46:59 In fact, even further, according to the Apostle Paul, who I might add was a big fan of patriarchy,
00:47:07 you could actually have even the woman who is not actually head of the marriage being a Christian and her husband not being a Christian.
00:47:16 and it would still be a Christian marriage.
00:47:19 So much so that the fruit of the marriage,
00:47:22 namely children, would be holy.
00:47:27 And for the record,
00:47:28 in terms of what it means for children to be holy,
00:47:30 I do not believe,
00:47:32 I'll at least tell you what I don't believe.
00:47:35 I don't believe that what the Apostle Paul is saying
00:47:37 is that the children are holy
00:47:39 in the sense that the children are legitimate.
00:47:43 There are some who their position
00:47:45 is that Paul is merely saying that
00:47:49 that if you have a marriage
00:47:52 with at least one Christian spouse, 0.53
00:47:55 that this makes the marriage legitimate
00:47:57 and therefore the children are legitimate.
00:48:01 Well, that can't be what the Apostle Paul is saying
00:48:04 because if it is, 0.79
00:48:05 then in any marriage that has zero Christians,
00:48:09 like a marriage between two atheists
00:48:10 or a marriage between two Muslims,
00:48:12 still in terms of biblical marriage,
00:48:14 a man and a woman, 1.00
00:48:15 you would have to say that the children of those marriages are bastards. 1.00
00:48:20 And I don't believe that that's true. 1.00
00:48:23 That even children born into a marriage between two Muslims 1.00
00:48:27 are still legitimate children, 0.50
00:48:30 and that marriage between two Muslims, man and wife,
00:48:34 is a legitimate marriage.
00:48:36 A Christian marriage? No. 1.00
00:48:38 But a legitimate marriage.
00:48:40 Because marriage is given as an institution by God,
00:48:44 not just to Christian people, but to all people.
00:48:49 And so what Paul must mean
00:48:51 in terms of the children being holy
00:48:53 is not just that the children are legitimate
00:48:56 because a marriage between two people
00:48:58 with at least one of them being a Christian
00:49:00 makes the marriage legitimate
00:49:02 and therefore their offspring are legitimate as well.
00:49:06 Now, I don't believe that's what he's saying.
00:49:08 Holy, I'll at least leave you with this to ponder,
00:49:11 holy must mean more than that.
00:49:14 the children being holy,
00:49:16 if that's what he means, legitimate children,
00:49:18 then he should have said
00:49:20 that the husband can be an unbeliever
00:49:23 and the wife can be an unbeliever. 0.87
00:49:25 But so long as it's a man and a woman
00:49:27 joined in marriage, the children are holy. 0.55
00:49:31 If holy merely means legitimate.
00:49:35 But the apostle says,
00:49:37 no, there has to at least be one of them
00:49:39 that's redeemed.
00:49:40 And if one of them is redeemed,
00:49:42 that one redeemed spouse is enough to, in a sense, redeem the other so that their offspring
00:49:49 and the fruit of that marriage would be redeemed, using redeemed in quotation marks now, but
00:49:56 redeemed, holy offspring, sanctified offspring. So all this being said, marriage would be an
00:50:06 example, not of a contract, not of a mere civil arrangement, but a covenant, and it is not the
00:50:14 covenant of works, and it is not the new covenant either. So there are such a thing as covenants
00:50:25 outside of those two. So when we think in terms of nations being Christian,
00:50:32 we can use covenant theology to encompass that paradigm and certainly beyond just covenant
00:50:43 theology we can use the notion of kingdom the net that's thrown in matthew 13 and the
00:50:52 implication is that it is cast and recast and recast until it brings in a haul of a great
00:50:58 many fish some good and some bad and it is the net of the church no it is the net of the kingdom
00:51:08 so our kingdom theology certainly should be able to encompass everything including whole nations
00:51:18 and i believe even beyond kingdom working a little bit narrower covenant should be able to encompass
00:51:26 nations as well. Not new covenant, not the covenant of works, but still a covenant and
00:51:35 still a Christian covenant. Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh. That's not just
00:51:46 speaking of Israel. That is speaking of any nation that makes the triune God their God. 0.85
00:51:55 That nation will be blessed. There is a way of not just individuals being justified, which comes
00:52:05 by grace alone, but corporate entities, even nations, not being justified in the eternal
00:52:14 salvific sense, but still being Christianized through covenant by explicitly esteeming and
00:52:22 pledging their allegiance to the triune God. 0.99
00:52:31 We've lost that in our nation.
00:52:35 We've utterly rejected that.
00:52:38 And there's a host of reasons why.
00:52:40 there's a host of reasons why we have turned our back against the notion of being a nation that
00:52:48 fears the lord but i believe that at least one not necessarily the exclusive reason not even
00:52:56 necessarily the chief reason but one reason why we've turned our back on the notion of being a
00:53:04 Christian nation is because we don't think in categories that are corporate any longer.
00:53:12 We have become incapable in a theological sense of thinking covenantally. And for that, I do blame
00:53:20 the Baptist. Joshua chapter 5 verse 9 says this, and the Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled 0.57
00:53:29 away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.
00:53:39 In your notes, I've written this. Israel's safe arrival to Canaan rolled away the reproach of
00:53:45 Egypt. Now, what does that mean? As I was investigating different biblical commentaries 0.57
00:53:51 in preparation for our text today,
00:53:54 some said that the reproach of Egypt
00:53:57 was the stench or stain of idolatry.
00:54:03 And that what God essentially
00:54:05 and effectively accomplished 0.99
00:54:07 through this second circumcision 0.97
00:54:10 of this new generation of Israelites 0.89
00:54:12 who had just recently crossed the Jordan 0.55
00:54:15 and entered into the promised land
00:54:17 by this renewal of the covenant ceremony,
00:54:21 by the cutting away of flesh,
00:54:24 by ratification of the covenant
00:54:27 through circumcision,
00:54:28 which includes blood, 0.86
00:54:30 had God washed them,
00:54:33 cleansed them from the reproach,
00:54:36 in this sense being a stain of idolatry.
00:54:40 And I think there's a sense
00:54:42 in which that explanation,
00:54:44 that interpretation is probably true.
00:54:48 But I think that at least in addition to it,
00:54:50 if not this simply being the only interpretation,
00:54:54 we have to understand precisely what the word reproach means.
00:55:00 A reproach is actually a sharp criticism.
00:55:04 It's a sharp criticism which conveys severe disapproval or disdain.
00:55:13 Israel's safe arrival to Canaan silenced the reproach of Egypt
00:55:17 because it completely disproved Egypt's assertion
00:55:21 that God merely intended to destroy his people
00:55:25 in the wilderness.
00:55:27 To understand what it means for God 1.00
00:55:29 to remove the reproach of Egypt, 0.99
00:55:31 first we have to understand
00:55:32 what was the reproach of Egypt? 1.00
00:55:35 The reproach of Egypt, I believe in view here
00:55:38 in verse nine of our text is this.
00:55:40 Egypt said, God performed all these signs and wonders,
00:55:44 all ten plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea, only that he might lead Israel into the wilderness 0.67
00:55:52 to put them to death. That was Egypt's reproach. Again, remember, the word reproach meaning 0.95
00:55:59 a harsh criticism of disapproval and disdain. It's a narrative, an unflattering narrative
00:56:09 of condemnation. Israel was condemned by Egypt. Egypt said, okay, so it turns out your God exists.
00:56:19 Ten plagues? You know, it's somewhat convincing. It's hard for us to argue anymore that Israel's 1.00
00:56:26 God doesn't exist or that your God has abandoned you. Your God is real and your God is here,
00:56:32 but he's only here to judge you. 1.00
00:56:37 See, Egypt's assessment of God and Israel
00:56:41 was that, okay, your God is real
00:56:43 and your God is present
00:56:45 but what your God is not is loving.
00:56:50 What your God is not is gracious.
00:56:54 What your God is not is faithful.
00:56:58 Your God is real.
00:56:59 We gotta give you that.
00:57:00 Your God is powerful.
00:57:02 We've got to give you that.
00:57:03 And your God is with you.
00:57:05 But in what way?
00:57:07 Your God is with you so that he can intimately, presently punish you.
00:57:17 And so God says through Joshua, in Joshua 5, verse 9, 0.93
00:57:23 Today, the reproach of Egypt has been washed away. 0.94
00:57:27 Meaning what? 0.91
00:57:29 Today, God has fulfilled his promise. 0.99
00:57:33 Today, God has proven that Egypt was wrong.
00:57:37 Egypt said that I've only delivered you
00:57:40 so that I might judge you in the wilderness 1.00
00:57:43 and put you to death. 0.98
00:57:44 But today, Egypt has been proven wrong. 0.98
00:57:48 For today, I have fulfilled my covenant promises.
00:57:52 Today, I have proven myself faithful to Israel,
00:57:56 Not just to discipline her as a father disciplines his son, but also to give to her everything I promised to give, including this good land.
00:58:11 That's verse 9 of our text.
00:58:13 The last thing that I want to look at, I've been doing this and comparing and contrasting types and antitypes, or shadows and substance.
00:58:24 foretelling and fulfillment throughout the book of joshua compared to the gospel and the greater
00:58:32 joshua who is jesus and want to do that very briefly in our text today as well i've written
00:58:40 the following the fact that this circumcision was performed under joshua rather than in the
00:58:46 wilderness by moses it points forward to the new and better circumcision of the heart that comes
00:58:54 by grace under the administration of Jesus and not the law under the administration of Moses.
00:59:02 Even this was shadow pointing to substance, type pointing to anti-type. Circumcision could have
00:59:10 come in the practical sense as we started out with verses 1 and 2 of our text today. In the practical
00:59:16 sense, they had plenty of time when Israel was not under threat with no enemies surrounding them
00:59:23 for 38 long years in the wilderness
00:59:26 where they could have been circumcised. 0.93
00:59:29 But one of the reasons that God waits 0.97
00:59:31 until they enter the promised land
00:59:33 is to say, we're renewing the covenant now
00:59:37 with a new generation now that the promise,
00:59:40 the sign, the promise that correlates
00:59:43 to the sign of circumcision has actually been fulfilled. 0.97
00:59:46 Circumcision is the sign and the land is the promise. 0.99
00:59:50 So now that this has been fulfilled 0.86
00:59:52 and now that we have a new generation,
00:59:54 I'm renewing the covenant oath with you.
00:59:56 That's one reason.
00:59:58 But in a larger gospel sense,
01:00:01 in pointing from Joshua to Jesus,
01:00:03 the other reason is because
01:00:05 there was a greater circumcision that was coming.
01:00:09 Not merely circumcision of the flesh, 0.62
01:00:12 but circumcision of the heart.
01:00:14 Not external, but internal.
01:00:17 Not circumcision performed as a duty under the law
01:00:21 given to Moses, but circumcision that comes by grace alone. That is circumcision of the heart
01:00:29 that Romans speaks of. Circumcision that Colossians speaks of by no human hands. A circumcision of the 0.93
01:00:39 heart that comes as a sovereign move of the Spirit of God by grace alone, through faith alone,
01:00:44 in Christ alone. And this circumcision is not performed by Moses and the law, but by Jesus
01:00:52 and the gospel. And so Joshua, as a type of Christ, after the time of Moses, when the promises of God
01:01:00 had reached their fulfillment, is now performing circumcision, pointing towards the true circumcision,
01:01:07 which you and I in Christ have today.
01:01:11 Lastly, Passover, verses 10 through 12.
01:01:16 And this will get us back to the longest point
01:01:18 that I made this morning on nations and covenants
01:01:22 and land that particular plane.
01:01:25 Let me read verse 10 so that it's fresh in our minds.
01:01:29 While the people of Israel were encamped in Gilgal,
01:01:33 they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month
01:01:36 in the evening on the plains of Jericho.
01:01:39 In your notes, I've written this. 0.90
01:01:41 Israel ate the Passover in the plains of Jericho 0.96
01:01:44 in defiance of the Canaanites 0.94
01:01:47 that were round about them and enraged against them.
01:01:52 It made me think this week as I was praying
01:01:54 and preparing of Psalm 23, verse five.
01:01:59 It says, you prepare a table before me
01:02:02 in the presence of my enemies.
01:02:05 you anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. Not only is Israel circumcised as they're now in 0.95
01:02:15 enemy territory, surrounded by their adversaries, not only are they circumcised, which literally 0.75
01:02:22 and physically causes them for at least a few days to be vulnerable to attack, but then as if 0.78
01:02:29 to add insult to injury, the Lord also has them partake of the Passover. So you're going to be
01:02:37 circumcised and virtually bedridden for a few days as you're surrounded by your enemies. And
01:02:43 don't worry, they won't do a thing for I am the Lord. And I've put my fear in them and caused
01:02:52 their hearts to melt like wax. And now that you're finally healed, go ahead and take a little bit
01:02:57 more time and have a feast as i prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies for i
01:03:08 am the lord now these two signs circumcision and passover as i've already said it is a renewal of
01:03:20 the covenant. We now have a new generation of Israelites. We have finally, after 40 years,
01:03:27 the fulfillment of God's promise to give them the land. And the first thing that takes place
01:03:33 is that the covenant oath is renewed. This new generation comes into covenant with God
01:03:40 through circumcision and renews that covenant even further with the Passover. And this is the 0.96
01:03:47 very same that new testament christians practice today in terms of baptism and the lord's supper
01:03:54 it's funny the baptists get upset with me and likening circumcision to baptism i say you can't
01:04:02 do that don't do that you're going to give away points joel whose team are you on i of course
01:04:10 it's correlated. I can't see any way that circumcision and baptism is not. The only way
01:04:17 that I differ from my Westminster brothers and sisters in the sense is that I would say this,
01:04:25 that circumcision as a natural sign followed natural birth. And baptism, which absolutely
01:04:33 correlates to circumcision, the only difference is that it is the new covenant sign which
01:04:40 follows new birth.
01:04:42 I am all for infant baptism.
01:04:46 I am dedicated to baptizing 0.57
01:04:49 spiritual infants. 0.99
01:04:51 The moment that someone is born again, 1.00
01:04:53 I don't want them to grow old
01:04:55 in spiritual maturity and sanctification
01:04:57 before being baptized.
01:04:59 Far be it.
01:05:01 No, while they're still in the earliest stages
01:05:04 of spiritual infancy,
01:05:06 directly after conversion, 0.97
01:05:09 I'll baptize them. 0.96
01:05:11 Because I love infant baptism. 1.00
01:05:14 Just want to get it right.
01:05:16 Okay.
01:05:17 Lastly, I said I would land the plane
01:05:19 back on this idea of covenant,
01:05:22 not the new covenant,
01:05:24 which is established through Christ
01:05:26 for individual people
01:05:27 in terms of eternal salvation
01:05:30 and justification.
01:05:31 By grace alone, through faith alone,
01:05:33 in Christ alone.
01:05:34 Not the new covenant,
01:05:35 and also not the old covenant.
01:05:37 and speaking of the covenant of works established with Adam.
01:05:43 And yet, I still believe that outside of the covenant of works
01:05:46 and outside of the covenant of grace,
01:05:48 there are still other covenants that we have today.
01:05:51 Marriage I cited simply as one example.
01:05:54 And for the Christian, any covenant that we're a part of
01:05:57 must be a Christian covenant. 0.79
01:06:02 So back on that point, landing the plane,
01:06:05 not only on that point, but the sermon as a whole,
01:06:07 I've written this, the circumcision of Israel and their following observance of the Passover
01:06:13 signify the renewal of the covenant between Israel and God. In a similar fashion, my prayer
01:06:20 is that in my lifetime, I might be granted the privilege of witnessing a renewal of the covenant
01:06:28 between America and God. This would not be the new covenant, which God reserves only for individuals
01:06:36 by regeneration. Neither would this be the old covenant which God uniquely established with
01:06:42 Israel according to the flesh under the Old Testament. And yet, to insist that nations 0.62
01:06:49 today cannot establish any covenant with a triune God is a foolish notion. Not only is it possible,
01:06:58 but I believe in the case of America, it has already been done. Therefore, the goal of every
01:07:05 Christian in America should not be Mac, make America Christian, but Macca, make America Christian 0.80
01:07:14 again. Let's pray. Father God, we do pray that if you would be so kind, that you would still 0.99
01:07:23 your hand of judgment by granting repentance in the hearts of people here in this nation,
01:07:30 we know that it is unlikely that every individual person in our nation would be regenerate and born
01:07:40 again but we know that it is also possible not only for you to save the poor of this world to
01:07:49 be rich in faith but there are times throughout biblical history and throughout church history
01:07:57 these last 2,000 years
01:07:58 where you saved not only peasants,
01:08:01 but princes.
01:08:03 Where you saved kings.
01:08:05 Not just guiding wicked kings
01:08:08 like water in the direction
01:08:09 that they should go,
01:08:11 but where you actually saved kings.
01:08:14 Where you actually caused
01:08:16 previously wicked kings
01:08:18 to fear you.
01:08:21 And Father, we pray
01:08:22 that you would do this today.
01:08:25 In the case of America,
01:08:27 with our constitutional republic. 0.80
01:08:29 It would not be a singular Christian prince,
01:08:32 but many Christian princes.
01:08:35 We pray, Lord, that you would save congressmen,
01:08:39 save governors,
01:08:42 save multiple men sitting in positions
01:08:46 of civil authority as civil magistrates
01:08:50 and cause them to fear you
01:08:52 and to do what is right,
01:08:54 to follow your law,
01:08:58 to uphold principles of virtue
01:09:01 that are not abstract
01:09:03 but directly come from the virtue of Christ
01:09:07 found on the pages of Scripture.
01:09:10 We pray, Lord, that America would, in fact,
01:09:13 renew its covenant with you.
01:09:16 That although there will always be individuals
01:09:19 who live here who are not Christian,
01:09:21 we do pray that as a whole
01:09:24 that our nation would explicitly declare once more
01:09:28 its allegiance to Christ.
01:09:32 Lord, we pray that the church would pave the way.
01:09:37 And Father, we pray that you would rid your church 0.98
01:09:40 of the foolish notion 0.91
01:09:41 that this would somehow be a disservice to the gospel.
01:09:47 That if a nation did in fact fear the Lord,
01:09:50 that the gospel would somehow be polluted.
01:09:52 or that the gospel would somehow become impotent. 0.71
01:09:57 There are many Christians today in America
01:10:00 who think that the only way we can have purity of doctrine,
01:10:05 purity of gospel,
01:10:08 and a purity of regenerate Christians
01:10:11 being true Christians
01:10:13 is in the climate and context of persecution. 0.81
01:10:18 part of the reason why our nation has turned from you
01:10:22 is because of self-fulfilling prophecy 0.99
01:10:26 Christians who thought the world getting worse
01:10:30 was precisely what was supposed to happen 0.94
01:10:34 and that as the world got worse politically
01:10:38 and culturally
01:10:39 that it would narrow the church
01:10:42 but also purify the church and make it better
01:10:45 And here we are.
01:10:51 We reject that notion.
01:10:54 We believe that by grace that a nation can fear you
01:10:58 and that Christians can be stout and mature in their faith at the same time.
01:11:07 The reason why Christians in our nation and in the West in general
01:11:11 have been watered down in their doctrine 1.00
01:11:14 and their character and their lives 1.00
01:11:16 and we have a whole crop of false converts
01:11:19 with false assurance
01:11:20 is not from faithful states
01:11:23 but from faithless churches.
01:11:28 The purity of the gospel is not lost
01:11:31 when a prince is faithful.
01:11:34 It is lost when a pastor is faithless.
01:11:37 the state being faithful to christ is not a threat it is churches being faithless to christ
01:11:46 that causes the problem lord we pray that that would be rectified by your grace that you would
01:11:54 raise up faithful pastors yes turn the hearts of the civil magistrates to christ but simultaneously
01:12:01 in your grace, turn the hearts of pastors to Christ, that they would preach serious doctrine,
01:12:10 serious Bible, serious gospel, so that we might see serious Christians. Not serious Christians
01:12:18 simply in the context of persecution, but serious Christians in a nation that is turned to you.
01:12:26 We pray all of this, recognizing it is a very tall order, but recognizing that you are a very
01:12:34 great God. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Can I be frank with you for just a second right here
01:12:40 at the end? Look, some of you guys, you're financially supporting this ministry, and from
01:12:45 the bottom of my heart, I say thank you. I cannot thank you enough. However, some of you, you just
01:12:52 you can't afford it. In fact, some of you, you shouldn't afford it. Let's be honest. I mean,
01:12:59 we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy. Our nation and our totalitarian political elites 0.98
01:13:07 lost their minds over the last three years due to COVID. We have written checks that we simply
01:13:14 cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession. We are living
01:13:21 in a recession right now regardless. Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs
01:13:27 at the grocery store. You cannot support financially this ministry at this time,
01:13:33 nor should you, but you could still help us tremendously. I am asking you, please,
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01:13:46 favorite podcast platform, iTunes, Spotify, whatever that might be, this is the way the
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01:13:59 You leave us a five-star review, and our podcast shows up for more people. And the Word of God
01:14:05 and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of life gets out there.
01:14:13 Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.
01:14:16 You